I listened to an online debate last summer that discussed the value of the Old Testament. One guy was pretty resolute about the high value of the OT. The other guy not so much. The other guy said that the OT is not very relevant, it’s dated, difficult to understand, taught things that we no longer pay any attention to. The OT is of secondary value to us. It’s a second-rate testament.
To be fair, he didn’t actually use the words second-rate; but he definitely conveyed that idea.
And when you think about it, it isn’t such a big revolutionary thing to say. If you asked a thousand people – bible-reading people, religious people – to choose between the OT and the NT how many do you think would pick the OT? 100? 10? 1? It’s a rating question, and the OT comes in second.
So anyway, I’ve been planning to read through this year, and reading through means reading through the NT and the OT. But what does a guy do if he’s thinking the OT is obsolete, irrelevant, boring, harsh, temporary, legalistic, superseded, etc? What does he do if he’s faced with reading a second-rate testament?
Well, one of the time-tested answers to that question is this: he doesn’t.
And there’s a plan for that, too.
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…reads the bible this year